Muslim World Issues

Sayyid Ahmad Khan (1817–1898), Sir Sayyid/Syed for many, is well known for his pivotal role in the foundation of Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College that became Aligarh Muslim University in 1920. The University's role in giving shape to a progressive Muslim community is the living legacy of Sayyid Ahmad Khan. He was a multidimensional personality – a pioneering thinker, an erudite scholar and a prolific writer, a rationalist theologian, community organizer, secularist leader, as well as a modernizer, deeply rooted in the Indian tradition. He serves as an inspiration even today, 200 years after his birth. He personified the reformist spirit of Raja Ram Mohan Roy and the fervent zeal to uplift his people as embodied by Mahatma Gandhi. Globally, one can place him alongside leading Muslim intellectuals of his time, such as the political activist Jamaluddin al-Afghani (1838–1897), modernist reformer and thinker Muhammad Abduh (1849–1905), and theologian Bediuzzaman Nursi (1877–1960). while there are ample scholarly and academic books, biographical narratives, and descriptive histories on the above-mentioned personalities, serious and dedicated scholarship on Sayyid Ahmad that captures the breadth of his activities and legacies is absent. This book, with contributions from some of the leading scholars in the field, critically examines Sayyid Ahmad’s life and contributions in the context of his and our current times. Engaging with his multifaceted work offers a better understanding of the challenges Indians faced during colonialism as well as enables a constructive way for addressing difficult problems of today.

In the mid-90s, Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement and the Iranian Ayatollah Khamene’i both banned bloody forms of self-flagellation such as tatbir (cutting the forehead with a sword), calling them backward and un-Islamic. They argued that Shi‘a Muslims ought to imitate Husayn by actively fighting against oppressors rather than passively mourning Husayn’s martyrdom. This prohibition has not been unanimously applied in all Muslim
countries, including Syria, where such practices persisted until the Arab Spring (when virtually all Shi‘a Muslims left the shrine-town where these practices were performed). By closely reading the linguistic, conceptual, and juridical discourses that circulated in Syria in order to justify this position, the paper shows that the performers of tatbir conceived of these rituals in revolutionary, rather than reactionary, terms. By examining the performance and reception of flagellation processions in terms of differing modalities of affect, the paper opens up spaces for rethinking ‘revolution’ and ‘redemption’ in contemporary Twelver Shi‘ism.

Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) was created with an objective to safeguard the interests of the Muslim countries around the world as well as promote inter-state multilateral as well as bilateral relationships among the member states. However, OIC has not yet been successful in managing the Muslim world dynamics and issues. The study provides an analysis of the OIC objectives, the Muslim world issues, and the role of OIC in managing the Muslim world affairs. The qualitative analysis of the OIC role in the Muslim world suggests that OIC has been unable to pursue its objectives due to the incapacity of its organizational structure. Study outlines the current strategic environment of the Muslim world that highlights the importance for development of a mechanism that could bring the Muslim world out of the complex organism of threats it is confronting with. The study has also evaluated the currently introduced 34 states ‘Islamic Alliance’ and infers that the creation of new alliances is not plausible in the light of current strategic environment of the Muslim world. The study finds out that OIC is the only forum that can contribute to achieve the required outcomes if its organizational structure is reformed. It ends with recommendations for some profound amendments in the existing OIC’s organizational structure as well as mechanism for proper functioning that would contribute in activating the OIC forum in a manner that would be enabled to manage the Muslim world affairs and contribute to peace, stability and prosperity among the Muslim states.

Mencari Film Madani: Sinema dan Dunia Islam merupakan kumpulan tulisan Ekky Imanjaya dengan tema khusus tentang seluk-beluk “film Islam”. Ekky Imanjaya sejak awal 2000-an berkarier sebagai wartawan dan kritikus film, lalu menekuni studi film hingga meraih gelar master di Universitat van Amsterdam (Belanda) dan doctoral di University of East Anglia (Norwich, Inggris). Kumpulan ini menjadi unik sekaligus penting dalam konteks tumbuhnya genre film religious di dalam perfilman kita dari masa ke masa. Ekky menawarkan perspektif yang berpijak dari pengalamannya aktif di dunia dakwah semasa mudanya.

Unduh e-book-nya: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1FRtP6s_YfFVx1ExyQoFW18K1NDq5qLus

تحاول هذه الورقة سبر أغوار قضية بيت المقدس وما يحيط بها من ملابسات وأطراف كما تبدو في مذكرات ثلاثة من صناع القرار الأمريكان، وهم: كونداليزا رايس وهيلاري كلينتون وروبرت جيتس. وقد اعتمد هذا الاختيار تنوعا في التوجه والمنصب، فالأولى من فريق الرئيس جورج بوش الابن والحزب الجمهوري، والثانية من فريق الرئيس باراك أوباما والحزب الديمقراطي، والثالث لم ينتم لحزب منهما وإن كان جمهوري المزاج إلا أنه مخضرم خدم في عهود الجمهوريين والديمقراطيين معا، كذلك فإن الأولى عملت كمستشار للأمن القومي ثم وزيرة للخارجية فجمعت بهذا بين منصبين أمني ودبلوماسي، والثانية عملت وزيرة للخارجية وهو منصب دبلوماسي، والثالث عمل وزيرا للدفاع وهو منصب عسكري فضلا عن أنه عمل سابقا كمدير للاستخبارات الأمريكية فجمع بين المنصب الأمني والعسكري.

Disgusted with ISIS, some Kurds turned away from Islam following the fall of Mosul in 2014. Many became atheists, while others sought comfort in Zoroastrianism. Zoroastrianism, according to converts, was the “original” religion of the Kurds before they embraced Islam. In 2015, two Zoroastrian centers opened in Sulaimani, both of which are recognized by the Kurdish Regional Government in northern Iraq. Notably, neither has tried to recreate Zoroastrianism the way it is currently and has been historically practiced in Iran and South Asia. Instead, they have created their own versions of Zoroastrianism, which is nationalist, postmodern, and liberal. Kurdish Zoroastrians argue that the reason Kurds are “backward” is Islam. They seek to rectify the present situation through a Kurdish “authenticated” and “original” form of Zoroastrianism. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork at these two centers, the present article examines this new religious movement in Sulaimani, an important city in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq. It analyses the rise and distinctiveness of Kurdish Zoroastrianism looking at how Zoroastrian Kurds articulate their views on Islam, women’s rights, human rights, and Kurdish independence.

No one would, probably, doubt that Muslim civilization is facing a serious crisis since the 18th century. It first resulted in political chaos and ultimately colonization of Muslim lands by Western powers. Later, Muslim civilization faced serious cultural and intellectual onslaught from the West which intensified and deepened the crisis. Though the period of Western colonization ostensibly came to an end in the middle of the 20th century, Muslim lands did not come out of the crisis. Despite some sincere efforts for Islamic revivalism, Muslim civilization has failed to respond to the modern crisis, particularly 9/11 incident has exposed the vulnerability of the Muslim world to Western political agenda, and its failure to respond effectively to Western civilizational challenges. The scholars are divided as to the cause of this crisis of the Muslim world and consequently, as to the measures to remedy the problem. Abdur Rehman Ibn Khaldun, a 13th century Muslim historian and intellectual, emerged at a time when the Muslim states in the Maghreb (North Africa) and Muslim Spain were passing through a phase of decline. His critical thoughts on the society (Al-Imran) and particularly his concept of social solidarity (Al-asabiyah), as propounded in his magnum opus, Maqaddimah (Prolegomena to History), can provide important insights into the present crisis of the Muslim Civilization. The present paper seeks to understand and explain this crisis with the help of the social analysis and critical ideas of Ibn Khaldun.

Bu çalışmada, öncelikle, İngiliz sömürge yönetiminin çekilmesi sürecinde Keşmir'in Hindistan'a bağlanmasına giden sürecin, hukuken 'sorunlu' olduğu ileri sürülmektedir. Bu çerçevede, nüfusun büyük çoğunluğunu Müslümanların oluşturduğu Keşmir halkının, farklı bağlamlarda farklı anlamlara gelen selfdeterminasyon hakkının, ayrılma hakkına cevaz veren üç bağlamı içinde de Hindistan'dan ayrılma hakkına sahip olduğu iddia edilmektedir. Birincisi, Keşmir, Hindistan tarafından 1947'de işgal altına alınmadan önce, çok uzun bir süre İngiliz sömürge yönetimi altında bulunmuştur. İkincisi, askerî işgal altındaki halklar self-determinasyon hakkı çerçevesinde ayrılma hakkına sahiptirler. Son olarak, Soğuk Savaş sonrasında zuhur eden 'son çare olarak ayrılma hakkı' çerçevesinde, bir 'halk' olma niteliğini haiz azınlıkların da mütemadiyen sınırları içinde yaşadığı devletin aşağılamasına maruz bırakılmaları, sistematik bir ayrımcılığın mağduru olmaları ve kendilerine yönelik olarak insanlığa karşı suçların işlenmesi hâlinde, ayrılma hakkına sahiptirler. Her üç bağlamın da Keşmir için uygulanabilir olması itibariyle, burada yaşayan halkın, uluslararası hukuk ile insan haklarının kesişim noktasında olan selfdeterminasyon hakkı çerçevesinde Hindistan'dan ayrılma hakkı vardır.

Secular arabic traditions have emphasized the potential of dreams to foretell the future.  Sometimes the prediction is seen as obvious and on other occasions elaborate systems of symbolic translations were consulted such as the tenth century Oneirocriticon of Achmet.
    In Islam, many of the foundations of the Koran were revealed to Muhammad in dreams. Muhammad ordered the practice of adhanthe daily call to prayer from the minarets and a central ritual of Islam to this day after one of his followers dreamed of it. The split of Islam into the conflicting factions of Sunni and Shi'ite was based partly on a dream of Mohammed, which the Sunnis used to justify their rights as his successors.
    The autobiographies of Muslim rulers often contain extensive dream diaries and examples of decisions obstensibly based on dreams.  When the Shah of Iran was deciding whether to seek a loan from Russia, he dreamed that a famous theological figure dressed in primitive Muslim garb approached the Shah and threw at his feet a sack containing gold and silver.  The interpretation of this dream was that the Shah shouldn't make any new loans with unbelievers but should trust that fellow servants of the faith would restore his finances. Sadam Hussein reported dreaming that Allah told him to enter and take back Kuwait just before the first Gulf War. Before the second Gulf War, he reported a dream that a snake came upon his path but he chopped off it’s head with a sword which he interpreted to mean western invaders would be vanquished.
    Because of this emphasis on dreams as foretelling the future rather than arising from the past, Arabs who are having PTSD nightmares of an event occurring each night--such as Kuwiati survivors of the Iraqi invasion or Iraqi survivors of the American invasion--experience even more anxiety over whether this will indeed occur again than dreamers in other cultures.
    The positive side to this emphasis on dreams foretelling the future happens when oppressed people dream of positive outcomes.  These are a source of much inspiration in arab society, while in western traditions they would be dismissed as "wish fulfillment" without the beneficial impact.
    We  collected dreams associated with events of the Arab Spring and discuss how they inspired and guided those taking part, and what dreams right now may have to offer the reshaping of the Arab world.

The term Secularism, although used frequently, is subject to a variety of meanings. Despite being a subject of criticism by many scholars, the Secularization thesis still plays an important role in defining the main academic discourse on religion. The main contention of this thesis has been the claim that as societies become more modernized, the influence of religions will dramatically decline. However, in recent times, this thesis has come under a thorough critique, due to a perceived rise in the role of religion, even in Western societies. The encounter of Secularism, as an ideology, with the Muslim world, linked mainly with the colonial project, has also been a subject of study by many scholars. The Muslim case has been considered particularly special, because of the still prominent role that religion plays in Muslim societies. Pakistan is a case in point, in that religion has been considered to be the central impetus in the formation of the country in 1947. The main aim of the present study was to determine the impact of the Secular world-view on the youth population of Pakistan. To do this, data from surveys and pre-existing literature was analyzed. The data showed that a clear majority of the youth population of Pakistan still consider religion to be an important part of their lives. Furthermore, a majority identify themselves primarily as Muslims; indicating the role that religion can play in forming a transnational identity. Thus, the Secularization thesis is not an adequate theoretical framework for understanding the dynamics of a society like Pakistan. This paper proposes that new theoretical models be formulated, which take into account cultural, religious, historical factors into account.

คำสอนกระแสหลักอย่างหนึ่งที่มุสลิมหลายคนรับมาผ่านการกล่อมเกล่าตั้งแต่เด็กคือความเชื่อที่ว่า ในอิสลามไม่มีการแยกกันระหว่างศาสนาและการเมืองประชาธิปไตยเข้ากันไม่ได้กับอิสลามเพราะประชาธิปไตยให้สิทธิเสรีภาพกับมนุษย์มากกว่าพระผู้สร้าง พระผู้สร้างมนุษย์และจักรวาลย่อมรู้ดีกว่ามนุษย์ว่าอะไรควร อะไรไม่ควร ด้วยเหตุนี้พระเจ้าจึงประทานกฎหมายที่เรียกรวมๆ ว่า “ชารีอะฮ์” มาให้กับมนุษยชาติผ่านท่านศาสดามูฮัมหมัด (ﷺ) ดังนั้น การยอมรับหลักการประชาธิปไตยจึงเปรียบเสมือนการยอมรับการปฏิเสธอธิปไตย อาญาสิทธิ์และกฎหมายของพระเจ้า (الـحـاكـمـيـّة) ในแง่หนึ่งไปโดยปริยาย ในแง่นี้ มิพักต้องพูดต่อให้ยืดยาว อิสลามกับประชาธิปไตยในเชิงหลักการไม่มีวันไปด้วยกันได้อีกทั้งแนวคิดดังกล่าวยังสนับสนุนข้อสังเกตของซามูเอล ฮันทิงตัน (1984, 20) นักวิชาการด้านรัฐศาสตร์ชาวอเมริกันคนสำคัญที่ชี้ว่า วัฒนธรรมอิสลามเป็นอุปสรรคสำคัญในการพัฒนาประชาธิปไตยในโลกมุสลิมอีกด้วย อย่างไรก็ตามบทความนี้ตั้งข้อสังเกตกับชุดความคิดข้างต้นและต้องการสำรวจสิ่งที่กำลังเป็นไปในโลกมุสลิมโดยชี้ให้เห็นว่าไม่ว่ามุสลิมจะยอมรับหลักการประชาธิปไตยได้หรือไม่มุสลิมก็ต้องเรียนรู้ที่จะอยู่กับประชาธิปไตยไม่วันใดก็วันหนึ่ง

This paper draws on the 'moral' dimensions of Turkey's 'new' foreign policy as it became manifest after the AK Party rose to power in 2002. This article first discusses 'ethics' and 'justice' in the context of international politics and states' foreign policy. Based on the findings regarding these key issues, I argue that, in the course of 2002-2014, Turkish behavioral posture within the prevailing international order was strongly colored by ethical concerns and the search for a more just and peaceful international order.

Being located at the crossroads of Asia, Europe and Africa, connecting Middle East, Balkan and Caucasus along with its historical legacy of Ottoman Empire, Turkey plays an important role in the regional and global politics as well as determines its foreign policy accordingly. Justice and Development Party (AKP) led by Erdogan with Islamic ideological background entering to Turkish politics in 2001, got victory in the elections of 2002, since then hitherto ruling the country. AKP government’s foreign policy followed ‘zero problem’ and ‘strategic depth’ principles with Turkish vicinity. Turkish-Syrian interactions had begun in the 8th century under Umayyad caliphate. The Turks gradually occupied higher ranks in Umayyad state and settled down at the territories today called-Syria. During Seljuk time, Turks captured Syria which replaced with Mamluks. The Ottomans regained sovereignty in Syria at the 16th century which continued till the end of First World War. Then, Turkish-Syrian relations developed as mandate shaped by France. Since then, some conflicting issues affecting Turkish-Syrian relations such as the Hatay (Sanjak) issue, water sharing issue. During Syria’s independence in 1936, Turkey demanded Hatay’s independence too, which denied by France. On the eve of Second World War in 1939, Hatay was ceded to Turkey. Since then, it became an issue of conflict. The water sharing has also been another issue of debate. Concerning security issues, both countries situated at opposite sites. Syria supported PKK, which Ankara regarded as terrorist group operating against Turkey. This hostile attitude gradually changed under AKP’s soft foreign policy towards Syria. Potential Kurdish state risk after Iraq war, common security perceptions after 9/11, compelled both the countries to adopt collective security measures. Assad’s visit to Turkey and Erdogan’s visit to Damascus in 2004 was a milestone for the prospect of Turkish-Syrian relations. Syria cancelled support to PKK and recognized Hatay as an integral part of Turkey. The economic relations also bloomed as the trade volume reached $1.844 billion in 2010. Regional and military cooperation agreements were signed. Bilateral relations entered into a new phase with the removal of visa requirements between the countries in 2009. All these positive developments were challenged with the mass protest against Assad regime with the emergence of Arab Spring. Turkey, from the beginning warned Assad to stop violence and undertake democratic reforms and tried to negotiate between Assad regime and the opposition. But Syria responded negatively rather blamed Turkey for interfering Syria’s internal affairs. Consequently, Turkey criticized Syria publicly and finally gave her support to the opposition and thus AKP government’s foreign policy towards Syria got a shift. Indeed, several geo-political-strategic-economic and regional-international perspectives and perceptions have driven Turkey to shift its policy towards Syria. This article is exclusively aimed at discovering the factors which prompted Turkey to shift its policy towards Syria during the crises caused by Arab Spring. It will also include the nature and historical developments of Turkish-Syrian relations with a view to understanding the driving factors behind shifting policy.

There is a growing need to spread the idea of Islam as a peaceful religion and Muslim countries as partners for global peace. The Russian worldview which encompasses its multi-ethnic character and diversity best showcases the essential role that Russia has played and continues to play with and for the Islamic world globally. Geography and demography have given Russia a uniquely Eurasian character that lends itself to a particular understanding of the world and its various elements. Russia's geography makes it part of " …different continents and neighbour to several civilizational zones. " 1 In popular imagination today the world is divided between the East and West and Muslims against the rest of the world. In this increasingly divisive environment which is causing dangerous splits and ruptures around the globe, the partnership between Islam and Russia is both necessary and integral for peace and stability in the world. Russia's historical place in Asia and closeness with the Muslim world along with its own multicultural character allows for an approach beyond othering and appeals to the greater good. As part of the fabric of the Asian and Muslim world, Russia is heir to a social and cultural milieu which is accommodating and inclusive. This gives rise to partnerships not divisions and creates proximity not distance with Muslim communities around the world. With talks of World War III, either inevitable or already taking place, Russia's myriad relationships with Muslims around the world can help finding solutions and mitigating differences. Globalisation and multiculturalism are under threat today because of policies of exclusiveness, isolationism and protectionism especially with regard to Muslim populations around the world. These have to be addressed quickly and with alacrity in order to ensure world peace. This paper provides the background and historicity of Russia's interactions with the Islamic world both within and without and takes a long term view of history to showcase the consistent role that Russia has played and continues to play in mitigating conflicts with the Islamic world. It specifically considers political and economic relationships with a cross-section of Muslim societies around the world, majority or otherwise. It offers instances where Russia has played the role of mediator in conflicts in the post-Soviet space and particularly in the Middle East, and gives further examples where Russia's track record and nuanced approach through time can provide solutions and resolutions in the future.

This paper argues that the intellectual roots of the negative outlook of the Muslim world today are closely related to the fact that the school of Tradition won the fight against the school of Reason back in the Medieval Ages. The intellectual-philosophical conflict between these two major schools combined with certain geo-political reasons had important, destructive consequences in the Muslim world. One of the most important causes of the ongoing poor outlook and the hostile attitude of the Muslim world towards liberal values is the failure of the Innovationists-Rationalists in their battle against the Traditionists. In essence, this fight was between two mindsets, two different perspectives, or mentalities which could be named as Ahl al-Rey and Ahl al-Hadith.

Since 11 September 2001, the ‘Muslim world’ has become a novel religio-culturally defined civilisational frame of reference around which American foreign policy has been partly reoriented and reorganised. In parallel, the ‘Muslim world’, is increasingly becoming, at this historical juncture, a civilisational social fact in international politics by being progressively embedded in, and enacted onto the world by, American foreign policy discourses, institutions, practices, and processes of self-other recognition. This article theoretically understands and explains the causes and consequences of these changes through an engagement with the emerging post-essentialist civilisational analysis turn in International Relations (IR). In particular, the article furthers a constructivist civilisational politics approach that is theoretically, empirically, and methodologically oriented towards recovering and explaining how actors are interpreting, constructing, and reproducing – in this case through particular American foreign policy changes – an international society where intra- and intercivilisational relations ‘matter’.

SECTERIANISM IS A POISON Interview with prof. Seyyed Husein Nasr by Fatima Žutić With prof. Seyyed Husein Nasr, one of the most renowned contemporary islamic scholars and philosophers, we discussed current problems facing the Muslim world, secterian conflicts shattering the Middle East, traditional Islam and growing xenophobia and islamophobia throughout the world. Born in 1933 in Iran, he was educated at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Harvard University. He was a rector of Teheran University and founder of the Imperial Iranian Academy of Philosophy. At present, he is professor emeritus at the George Washington University, where he has been teaching Islamic Studies since the year 1984. He is the author of 25 books and over five hundred articles. His work has been translated to numerous world languages including Bosnian language.

This study focuses on the growth of transnational forces and increased global interdependence in the Post-Cold War period, posing serious challenges to conservative regimes in the Middle East – manifested by popular uprisings for economic and political change, beginning 2010 in Tunisia. Since then the Arab states of Middle East are in turmoil. The situation has become complex due to the presence of Al-Qaeda network and ISIS ('Islamic' State of Iraq and Syria) radicals in the Middle East and Mediterranean region. Such non state extremists groups are a collective threat to future Europe also. On the other hand various countries of the Middle East and gulf region, have been engaged in waging the proxy wars against each other in order to achieve their specific objectives. Geographically, historically and politically Turkey has been a bridge between Middle East and Europe. The underlying assumption of this study establishes Turkey's matured foreign policy not only as a model for struggling states of the Muslim World but holds keys to emerging threats to Europe. The study explores possibilities of Turkey to be central player not only for the resolution of regional issues but also as an active player at the global level.

Alternative medicine and is often controversial, and many consider
practitioners like bomohs, spirit mediums, herbal specialists, acupuncturists, or chiropractors as quacks. Reasons range from their incompatibility with modernity, to the success that powerful interests have manipulated public opinion that their pharmaceutical products are the most reliable treatment. This paper explores alternative diagnoses to social problems in Muslim Southeast Asia where the words “Islam”, “Islamic”, and “Islamist” appear in both diagnoses of causes and prescriptions for cures. I make the case for placing more emphasis on “Muslims”, and less on Islam. Furthermore, in today’s hyper-connected ummah, a broad – and widening – range of Muslims and “Islams” exist in Southeast Asia. My specific interest is in the analysis of social problems in Thailand’s Malay-dominated far-southern provinces, and this paper reiterates arguments that (tantalising) mono-causal myths must be discredited and replaced by approaches attentive to multicausality. As most things happen for more than one reason, religious
ailments are one of a number of factors that have contributed to social
problems. In South Thailand, others include political instability, Malay
language loss, and widespread social disintegration. Doctrinal medicine and religious institutions may, therefore, represent only one part of the
alternative medicine to cure the social ills plaguing Muslim Southeast Asia.

IntroductionFrom Pan-Turanism to Pan-Islamism and from orientalism to European centrism there has occurred a shift in the foreign policy orientations of Turkey towards a pan-geographical foreign policy that is "functional" and allows realization of its potentialities. It aims at combining East & West and embraces North & South in the future [(Adib-Moghaddam, 2014a) Also see (AdibMoghaddam, 2014b)].1For the purpose, a modern Turley under the 'strong' leadership - which has shown the political and strategic 'will' to take bold steps - has stepped up efforts for the restoration of the past glory it enjoyed in the ancient times. It has been active in the international system for positive purposes in order to help solve the issues which plague the Muslim world.Middle East and the Gulf region has been in turmoil because of a number of factors, most important being the internal dissatisfaction of the youth with the prevailing social, political, and economic condit...

As Israeli attacks on Palestine escalate, it is important to dig into the history of the whole issue. Based on theological grounds, the boundaries of Israel have always remained a big jigsaw puzzle with some of the pieces lost, some hidden and others not part of the puzzle at all. This article is an attempt to trace the theological grounds of the worst geopolitical conflict of the modern world.

https://www.cicap.org/new/prodotto.php?id=3895

The book is published by CICAP (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CICAP) and it is aimed at a non-specialist audience. It deals with the different kinds of pseudoscience, antiscience, and conspiracist thinking popular in the Muslim world (broadly defined), emphasizing the strong analogies with similar phenomena and narratives in the Western/Christian world but also how such pseudo-scientific theories are criticized and opposed by Muslim intellectuals.

The Crescent and the Splitting Moon – Islam, Pseudoscience and the Paranormal

Table of Contents

Introduction

1.      The “Scientific miracles” of the Qur’an

2.      The Islamization of Science

3.      Qur’anic Healing and Anti-medicine

4.      Harun Yahya, Islamic Creationism, and the Teaching of Evolution in the Muslim World

5.      Contemporary Supernatural Miracles

6.      Pseudo-history and Conspiracist Theories

7.      Extraterrestrials and UFOs

8.      Pseudotechnology

9.      Pseudoarticles

10.  The Flat Earth and Geocentrism

11.  The Dispute over Ramadan

12.  The Splitting Moon

Concluding Remarks

Glossary

The digital revolution that is taking place nowadays all over the world is undoubtedly changing the face of the planet at an outstanding pace in every aspect. The world is truly becoming a global village as the visionary thinker McLuhan once predicted back in the sixties of the last century. By surfing the Net today you can go almost anywhere you wish and you can communicate, at ease, with anyone you want. Basically, almost everything is at the click of a button.
The prospects of this unprecedented revolution are great, but so are the dangers and the pitfalls on family and society.
In fact, nobody questions the fact that globalization, which is one of the concrete results of the digital revolution, is beneficial to humanity, provided it is wisely managed. Unfortunately, that is not the case today. Globalization is here among us to stay with its positive and negative sides. And unfortunately its negative aspects, if left unchecked, can destroy the unity and the coherence of the family, and by so doing badly affect society.
The globalization today is insidiously affecting children and adolescents in their identity, behaviour and morality and it is also affecting adults. The Internet is certainly a great outcome of the digital age, but in many cases it is sapping society at is foundations because of the moral permissiveness it allows with no checks or balances.
Aware of the dangers of globalization on the Muslim family, the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural organization –ISESCO- embarked few years ago on an ambitious programme entitled: “Parental Education”, geared towards educating parents on how to educate their children at home to avoid having them become victims of the dark side of globalization.

Since the 20th century, the Kurds have been struggling as minorities in several states in the Middle East. Fortunately, at the start of 21st century, the Kurds begun experiencing improvements in the way they are treated as part of society in states they reside in. Focusing on the Kurdish people in Iran, Syria, and Turkey, this paper argues that although there have been improvements in the treatment of Kurds the degree in which multiculturalism is observed varies from state to state.

Vladavina prava predstavlja, uz demokratiju, jedan od ključnih koncepata 21. stoljeća, dok islam predstavlja, uz kršćanstvo, najmnogoljudniju religiju. S druge strane, muslimanske države se suočavaju s problemom prihvatanja vladavine prava kao koncepta koji je danas najzastupljeniji na Zapadu. U radu se razmatra kompatibilnost vladavine prava i islama kao i uzroci zašto

INTRODUCTIONBeing located at the crossroads of Asia, Europe, and Africa, connecting the troubled zones of the Balkans, the Middle East, and the Caucasus, where a predominant Muslim population bridges the West (Bagci & Kardas, 2003), Turkey occupies an important geopolitical and geostrategic position in global politics that plays a vital role in determining its foreign policy. As the inheritor of Ottoman empire, Turkey plays a dominant role in regional politics. The Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi) (AKP) was formed in 2001 with an Islamic ideological background under the leadership of Recep Tavyip Erdogan and swept victory in the general elections of2002, while major political parties that ruled the country for decades failed to secure 10 percent of the vote (Carkoglu, 2002). Since then, the AKP had ruled the country with an increasing voter percentage. Turkey's AKP government has initiated a diversified foreign policy prioritizing its Ottoman legacy and...

The report reveals the systematic and institutionalised nature of the persecution against the Rohingya and other Muslims in Myanmar, complete with backing by the military, Buddhist religious elites and the civilian government. Although global concern has fixated on the Rohingya community, the available evidence indicates that it is the Muslims in general who have been targeted.